


A Deadly Decision

by NamelesslyNightlock



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Decisions, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Confused Nile Freeman, Gun Violence, Hostage Situations, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani Needs a Hug, M/M, Mistakes, Nile Freeman Needs a Hug, POV Nile Freeman, Temporary Character Death, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29098194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock
Summary: The thing is, other than the fact that there was a gun to Nicky’s head, the team werewinningthe fight. One quick shot and it would be over.So when the thug pressed his weapon to Nicky’s hair and threatened to kill him if they didn’t drop their weapons, Nile shrugged. She kept her gun high.And she said—“Well, go on then.”
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 13
Kudos: 173
Collections: All and More (18+) Kaysanova Gift Bag 2020





	A Deadly Decision

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MidnightGardener](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightGardener/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [MidnightGardener](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightGardener/pseuds/MidnightGardener) in the [All_and_More_Gift_Bag_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/All_and_More_Gift_Bag_2020) collection. 



> This doesn't entirely fit what **MidnightGardener** was looking for, but the one I started writing got too long (again) and I wasn't going to be able to finish it before my deadline (of getting surgery on my hand so, you know) but I had this idea while I was writing it, and decided to use this one for the exchange instead. When I get around to finishing the other one, I'll let you know! I hope you enjoy it ❤︎

Nile hadn’t expected that her actions would garner such a horrified response.

They were immortal, after all—they _couldn’t die._ Surely… surely, letting someone get shot to make a quick run of the fight was the right thing to do?

The team had managed to get into something of a sticky situation. They’d been caught in a fight that got bigger than expected, outnumbered where they thought they’d have an easy win. Still, they were doing fairly well—until suddenly Joe was down, and there was a thug standing over him, kicking him repeatedly in the gut.

But before Nile could even fully assess the situation Nicky made a dive, throwing himself forward with an ugly snarl. Both he and the thug had gone down in a pile on the floor—

And then they were both on their feet, the guy’s hand around Nicky’s throat and a gun at his head.

“ _Stop!”_ The man’s expression was twisted with victory, certain that he’d won. Nile wasn’t so sure. “Weapons down,” he continued. “If you do anything else, then I’ll kill your friend.”

See, the thing is—other than the fact that this guy had a gun to Nicky’s head, their team would be _winning._ Andy had taken about half the thugs down by herself, Nicky and Joe made a hell of a team, and if Nile could say so she wasn’t half bad either. Despite starting the fight on the back foot they’d killed all but three, and with good aim… Nile was sure she could end this. Quickly, easily.

_Cleanly._

So she shrugged.

She kept her gun high.

And she said—“Well, go on then.”

She heard Joe’s shout in the same moment that she pulled the trigger.

Nile had training in hostage situations, but she wasn’t as fast as she could have been—by the time her bullet hit its target, Nicky’s brains were splattered all across the floor. But her bullet _did_ hit, and the thug fell. And by the time the other two could even think about firing, they too were dead on the ground.

She tried not to look at Nicky, as his situation was rather messy. She _should_ have been faster.

But, they were immortal. Nicky would wake up.

“There,” she said, lowering her gun as she glanced back to her teammates. “Easy.”

But the expressions they wore were far from the pleased smiles she was expecting. Their faces were pale, weapons still half raised as if they were too shocked to do anything else with them. Andy was staring at her with wide eyes—and Joe… _god._

Joe looked like Nile had torn out his heart.

He ran toward Nicky with a small cry, sword thrown to the ground as he threw himself down by Nicky’s side. Joe didn’t seem to care about the blood and brain matter that slicked the ground, Nicky’s hair, his clothes—he cupped Nicky’s cheeks and stared into his empty eyes, begging for his lover to return.

“Nicolò, Nicolò, destati, Nicolò cuore mio _come back to me—”_

He cycled through a couple of different languages, most of which Nile did not understand.

“Joe,” Nile said as she stepped forward, confusion pulling her brow down into a frown. “It’ll be all right. He’ll—”

“Do not even say it.” As he looked up to her, Joe’s eyes were full of a fire that Nile had never seen before, a deep, burning rage that threatened to destroy all in its path. He glared at her as if she had done something horrific, and the force of it caused her to step back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, unsure of what she’d done. “I didn’t _want_ him to get hurt, but—”

“Get hurt?” Joe cut in again, his voice cracking through his anger. “Nicolò is _dead._ You could have waited, we could have found another way to win that fight. All Nicolò needed to get free was a distraction and yet you—” He stopped as a violent snarl cut across his words, a snarl that churned Nile’s stomach and rose the hairs on the back of her neck. “You rushed in and _got him killed.”_ The moment Joe’s eyes were back on Nicky, though, his snarl turned soft, his eyes brimming with tears. “Hayati, wake up. Don’t leave me here alone.”

Nile went to speak again, but she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Nile,” Andy said, her voice a little gravelly. “Don’t. He won’t be able to listen, not now.”

Nile glanced to her, still unsure, still confused, still feeling the hurt coursing through her. “I don’t understand,” she said. “He’ll be fine, and if I hadn’t shot them all down quickly, more of us could have been hurt.” Then Nile had a thought, an idea as to why perhaps _Andy_ at least might have been hurt by her actions, and she quickly worked to rectify it. “I wouldn’t have done it if it was _you,”_ she said. “I would have found another way.”

“Why am I any different from Nicky?” Andy asked—

And Nile stared. “Well because he’s immortal? Andy, you won’t come back—”

“And what guarantee do we have that Nicky will?” Andy asked, voice going harder still. “Nile, you remember what I told you?”

Nile frowned as she thought back, wondering what Andy could mean. Back in those first few days, during that mess with Merrick and Copley and Booker, Nile had been dumped with so much information that it was pretty hard to recall it all.

But then—

_We mostly are, but we can die._

_One day your wounds just don’t heal up anymore, and… we don’t know when or why._

“You mean when you told me about Lykon,” she said.

Andy raised a brow.

“But…” She was still frowning, still confused. “You’re old. So old you can’t remember, and _far_ older than Nicky. Surely—”

“We don’t know when it’ll happen,” Andy cut in. “Lykon… he was younger than I am. Younger than I _was.”_

And just like that, Nile felt sick. “Oh, shit,” she groaned.

Looking back to Nicky and Joe, Andy’s expression finally deflated a little. “There’s never any guarantee. And I know you meant well, but… for all we know, for all _Joe_ knows, you might have just thrown away Nicky’s life.” She sighed, her voice losing some of its edge. “Even after all these years… the fear remains. The end is always waiting.”

Nile could taste the bile in her mouth, every plea that fell from Joe’s lips cutting though her heart as surely as a sword. He was _suffering,_ still calling for Nicky to come back to him, never letting up even as the minutes began to stretch.

And if Nicky didn’t wake up…

If he _didn’t—_

Well. She wasn’t sure what she would do, but she had the feeling that Joe at least would be as broken as the corpses that littered the floor.

But finally, _finally,_ after what felt like far too long—

Nicky drew in a deep, gasping breath.

Joe seemed to collapse, his whole body slumping as he leaned over Nicky, shaking and shuddering and whispering into Nicky’s neck. Nicky, despite being soaked in blood and viscera - despite him still having a _hole in his head_ \- reached up with tired arms to touch Joe’s sides, gripping Joe’s hips in a manner that was clearly meant to be grounding.

Because Nicky clearly understood—he clearly _knew_ that there had been a chance he wouldn’t come back, and had undoubtedly experienced that from the other side. He would know what Joe needed to feel okay again.

After such an experience… Nile found it hard to imagine that either of them _could_ be okay again. Fuck, how were any of them still sane? After _years_ of this?

Joe and Nicky had been together for nine hundred years. She had never experienced a love like that, and she was sure that nothing she could picture could possibly come close. But… she still tried to imagine. And she knew that if someone had been reckless with her brother’s life as she had been with Nicky’s… Even just the _thought_ made her upset.

“We all make mistakes,” Andy murmured, her eyes still on the embracing pair. “The important thing is to not do it again.”

Nile could certainly get behind that, and she knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t—but she also felt like she had gained a new perspective of this life she was now living.

Because yes, she and her new family were immortal… and yet, they were not.

And she couldn’t help but wonder—

What was worse? The ordinary life of knowing that one day, you would die and that would be that—or constantly seeing yourself and your loved ones thrown into danger and losing their life, never knowing whether they would wake up, if _this_ time would be _it._

Taking a deep breath, Nile allowed her gaze to linger on the desperate, embracing pair, the thought still swirling in her mind. She wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to face the answer to such a question. 

And to be honest… she didn’t think she wanted to.


End file.
